Parliament Commission Proposes Internet Czar

Michael Hedges April 22, 2013 - Follow on Twitter

There is a visceral if not quite universal understanding that the internet touches nearly everything. Without digital networks phones stop ringing, nothing moves, little work gets done and bankers can’t check their Facebook pages. Some in the media world feel more squeeze than touch. Government internet policies, though, are still works in progress.

The Commission of Inquiry on the Internet and Digital Society of the German Bundestag began its work in May 2010 exploring every possible encounter of the internet-kind. The twelve working groups looked at net neutrality, privacy, copyright, media literacy, broadband expansion, effects on work and much more. Nearly three years later the Commission’s final report was presented (April 18) to cheers, generally self-congratulation, within the parliament and sighs elsewhere.

Proposed in the final report are a standing committee at the Bundestag and a Federal ministry for the internet. Recommended were firm policies on copyright reform, expanding fast broadband and better protection of infrastructure from cyber attacks. The Bundestag, considered the lower house of the German parliament, can originate Federal legislation. Critics found the final report “vague.”

“When you think of the history of environmental policy, it took awhile for each and every MP to understand what it meant,” said MP Axel Fischer, who led the inquiry commission, quoted by  Tageszeitung (April 18). “The important this is that there was this internet inquiry at all. We should know and recognize that the topic is relevant.” This Commission of Inquiry came into being when the web-activist Pirate Party won parliamentary seats, which have now disappeared.

“The work is not finished with this final report,” said internet support group BITCOM CEO Bernhard Rohleder, one of the participating experts, quoted by infosat.de (April 18) “It is only the beginning.” He endorsed establishing a permanent parliamentary committee that “should identify future challenges for the digital society early and treat the subject seriously.”

“The internet is first and foremost a place of freedom, communication and civic and entrepreneurial development,” offered German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich in an op-ed published by Der Spiegel (April 19). “However, common values and rules have to apply to this place of digital interaction. There may be situations where (the State) has to create a legal framework to bring into balance the competing freedoms.”

The German association of private broadcasters (VPRT) offered a more nuanced view to those excited about more legal frameworks, not to forget ministries. “Strong internet policy has to focus on the value and importance of internet content but also infrastructure investment and business models,” said VPRT managing director Claus Grewenig. “Here, implementation of the recommendations should be adjusted. Internet and media policies are not separable from each other.” (See VPRT statement here – in German)

Recommendations in the Commission report to coordinate media policies of the new Federal internet agency with anti-trust authorities and the State media regulators, creating a “one-stop shop,” was “judged positive” by VPRT.  Particularly vexing are market definitions used by anti-trust authorities in considering online content distribution as international competitors put pressure on German private sector broadcasters.

“One of the rumors circulating on the web already is that we have printed the entire internet,” said center-right liberal (FDP) MP Manuel Höferlin, noting the heft of the 1,300 page document.

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